Victoria Charters

Victoria Charters, daughter of William Wallace Stewart Charters (an engineer and world renown expert in the field of solar energy and renewable energy sources) and Sheila Charters (a nurse, accountant and homemaker), was born in Melbourne, Australia February 15, 1966. Her father is Scottish, born in Shanghai and her mother is English. She spent the early years of her life traveling and living around the world with her parents as her Academic father opted for the sabbatical leave options his work offered. They lived in Montreal, Canada; Marseilles, France and Fort Collins, Colorado. Victoria's first love was dance, but she took up drama as well, encouraged by an 8th grade English teacher, at Presbyterian Ladies College (an all girls school), who cast her in the role of Hamlet. She continued to explore her interest in acting and writing while a student at University of Melbourne, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English and Film. After graduation (in 1987), she moved between Melbourne and Sydney, working extensively in theater including St. Martins Youth Arts Centre and La Mama and performing weekly with her Improv team in Theatresports. Television roles included parts on Neighbours (1985) and Boys from the Bush (1991). She moved to Los Angeles 1994, studied with Michael Shurtleff in Hollywood for the summers of 1994 and 1995, and graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, West 1997. From 1999-2001 she covered numerous red carpet events, celebrity interviews and Hollywood Premieres as an on-camera-host/producer for fox.com, Nirve TV and Load TV. Film highlights include I Heard the Mermaids Singing (2008) (Winner: Silver Medal for Excellence, Park City Film Music Festival, Winner: Best Narrative Short, Great Lakes Film Festival), Angels Die Slowly (2010) filmed in post Katrina New Orleans, and Death of a Saleswoman (2006) (Winner: Best Direction of a Feature Film, Bare Bones International Film Festival; Winner: Best Feature Film, Gem City Film Festival). In 2008 she made her first venture into the area of directing with I Heard the Mermaids Singing (2008), a short film based on a play of the same title written by Michael Shurtleff.